Picked up my new CCW Shield 2 wks ago and have about 75 rounds through it and the biggest problem I have is trying to lock the slide back. It is so hard to do and hurts my hand. Usually takes 2-3 attempts. The question I have is should I contact S&W or is this something that will improve with use. My first pistol is a Beretta PX4 compact and it is so easy to lock back. Certainly didn't expect this issue. Any advice /help would be appreciated. Thanks

Scroll down to the bottom of this page and read the threads in the "Similar Threads" section. It's a common issue, MANY posts each week about it.

Disassemble and rotate the recoil spring a little until you hit the sweet spot (you will know because it will be easy to lock back when you re-assemble). I had this same issue. On January 14, 2015, I called S&W and described the issue very nicely to a CS rep. I offered to pay, but the CS rep would not hear of it. The new recoil spring assembly arrived today. The packing slip showed it was "picked" from the parts department on January 20.

Given all of the folks who wait just as long for an answer to an email, I AGAIN strongly suggest that anyone with an issue simply call and speak nicely to a CS rep.

In over 40 years of calling S&W, I have never been treated rudely, nor have I waited months for parts, etc.

Give it a try. S&W has a spotless record with me.

To those of you who might suggest that a pistol should not make it out the door with a bad spring, the score is now 1 - 1, so S&W and Glock are in a tie for each having to replace a spring on a brand new pistol received direct from a distributor.

Good show S&W!

What he said.

And welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum!

The tolerances are real tight on the M&P shield pistols and it's gonna take a couple hundred rounds or so before it starts to loosen up. I've had my shield 9mm for two months now and after about 600 rounds thru it, it loosened up real nice... Just field strip it as shown in the manual, clean it real good and oil it only where it shows and keep on shootin'!

Don't forget to disassemble the magazines & clean them inside & out as well........

I had a similar issue. Not only was it hard to cycle the slide but, at times, the slide simply would not travel all the way back. There was a hard stop that would prevent it from full travel. This made it nearly impossible to reassemble after field stripping. I explained the issue to CS (over the phone) and they sent me a new recoil spring assembly. It took a loooong time because they were backordered but the difference is night and day. So far I have not been able to duplicate the issue that I was having and I would say that the slide is about 30% harder to cycle than any of my other autos with this new RSA. Very glad that I called. Since it sounds like yours is just stiff and shoots properly I'm guessing they would just tell you to keep shooting it. If you ever find the slide won't fully cycle though, explain that to them and they should take care of it.

Mine was stiff at first too. After reading similar threads here, I tried just really yanking on the side to get it back far enough to slide lock. I've got just shy of 700 rounds through it now & I don't have to put near as much effort into getting the slide back.

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Try pulling the slide back with an empty mag inserted, that does seem to help.

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John

As others have said, put about 500-600 rounds through it and it'll soften up. It's fun to shoot so that shouldn't be a problem.

After all the help for this stiff spring of mine I called S&W yesterday and they are sending a replacement spring assembly for my problem. Very nice CS and didn't even ask for my serial number. Should be here in 5-10 business days. I will also while I'm waiting try the suggested spring rotation trick to see if that helps in the meantime. Thanks all!

I have only a few hundred rounds through mine (9mm Shield), and it's loosened up a great degree. I sometimes store it overnight or for a few days with the slide locked back, and that seems to have helped as well. With a few hundred more rounds down the tube, I'm sure it will be even nice to manipulate.